SAS Microbial Air Samplers: Trusted in Demanding Environments

For decades, the world's leading government agencies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, hospitals, and food producers have been relying on the SAS (Surface Air System) family of microbial air samplers to monitor for (and help prevent) microbial contamination. While Bioscience has a strict confidentiality policy regarding its customer list, this document lists some of the already public use cases and citations, such as those listed in peer-reviewed academic journals.



Government: NASA monitoring and CDC-coordinated investigations

Government scientists regularly use SAS to monitor laboratory environments and trace airborne contamination during public-health investigations.

For example, SAS air samplers support the work of NASA's Kennedy Space Center Environmental Microbiology Laboratory, which provides microbiological sampling services for SpaceX, Orion, the International Space Station, and planetary protection, as well as other flight vehicles and hardware.1

NASA researchers selected the SAS Super 180 as the culture-based benchmark for assessing other air-monitoring methods. Their work, presented at the 51st International Conference on Environmental Systems in 2022, drew on the Johnson Space Center's use of SAS for all ground-based air assessments.2 In the center's Meteorite Laboratory, researchers also used the SAS Super 180 to collect airborne microorganisms for cleanroom research.3

During a Florida anthrax investigation, a public-health team called in by the CDC used two SAS Super 180 samplers to collect airborne spores. Positive samples helped identify the American Media Inc. building as the release site. Bioscience International's SAS On Call account describes the team's work under Dr. Segaran Pillai, then director of the state public-health laboratory in Miami.4

CDC and Florida Department of Health investigators also used the SAS Super 90 to sample operating-room air while investigating 22 surgical-site infections following cardiac surgery at a Florida community hospital in 2011–2012.5



Pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and sterile-compounding environments

Pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers rely on SAS for repeated sampling in demanding cGMP environments. Installations at major manufacturers demonstrate the operational advantages of fast sampling, standard media, and dependable ISO 17025-accredited calibration service.

At Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC, staff used the SAS Super 100 to collect 1,000-liter air samples throughout cGMP cleanrooms used to manufacture cellular-therapy products. A review of ten years of environmental-monitoring data examined how the program detected contamination and tracked facility conditions over time.6

Routine monitoring with a SAS 180 from Bioscience International generated 2,073 air samples over 5.5 years across 30 hospital pharmacies and two freestanding sterile-compounding pharmacies. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, found that the dedicated fungal medium recovered more than 2.5 times as many fungal isolates as the bacterial medium, helping inform media selection for environmental monitoring.7

At Monsanto's sterile injectable veterinary pharmaceutical operation, 36 SAS Super 180 units across ten isolators and two cleanrooms paid for themselves within two months, reported metrology specialist Paul Blankenship. Savings in media, preparation time, and calibration downtime reached $380,000 over six months. He also credited SAS's sampling speed, straightforward plate loading, and ability to withstand sanitization with improving day-to-day operation.8

At Bayer, quality-assurance microbiology manager David Castro used SAS to monitor five antibiotic-production areas as the company increased Cipro output. The program included more than 160 one-cubic-meter samples each month, organized by air-handling system to monitor for cross-contamination.4



Hospitals: ongoing surveillance and contamination investigations

For hospitals caring for vulnerable patients, SAS supports the regular surveillance needed to track airborne contamination and the targeted sampling needed to investigate potential infection sources.

A University of Pittsburgh research team used the SAS Super 100 to collect 1,000-liter air samples at two hospitals at least monthly from May 2023 through May 2025. Sampling covered: outdoor locations, lobbies, nurse stations, and rooms housing immunocompromised patients. The two-year program identified which fungi were present and how often they were recovered in each setting.9

At a North Carolina academic hospital providing transplant, oncology, and critical-care services, investigators used the SAS Super 180 to sample air during an investigation of Mycobacterium abscessus infections in transplant recipients, published in the medical journal  JAMA Network Open in 2026.10

A University Hospital in Sassari team tracked airborne contamination in 18 operating rooms over ten years (2010–2019), using SAS for 188 evaluations that included sampling at rest and during surgery.11 The multicenter IMPACT Project used the SAS Super ISO 180 for 1,000-liter air samples in 35 orthopaedic operating theatres at 30 hospitals in southern Italy, comparing contamination before and during surgery.12



Independent research: microbial recovery and practical performance

Independent comparisons quantify SAS collection performance under controlled conditions and in working facilities. That research record extends back more than four decades, including tests of two SAS models published in the Journal of Hospital Infection in 1985.13

For the fungal aerosols tested in a Rutgers University laboratory comparison of seven portable air samplers, the SAS Super 180 shared the highest collection efficiency, depositing approximately 80–90% of airborne spores directly onto agar. The researchers found that efficiency depended on both sampler design and microorganism.14

At a Norwegian dry-cured meat production facility, the SAS Super 180 was proven to recover more fungal species and a higher mean colony count per plate than passive settle plates. Both methods identified similar dominant fungal populations. The comparison, published in Food Control, included sampling across 16 production rooms and outdoors.15

In a Rutgers University comparison, the SAS Super 180 measured significantly higher concentrations of culturable indoor bacteria and fungi than an experimental electrostatic sampler and an IOM filter sampler. SAS collected short-duration samples directly onto agar; the other instruments collected over 24 hours and required additional sample processing. The authors identified these differences as factors in the results, underscoring the importance of matching the sampling method to the monitoring objective.16

These studies give quality teams measured collection results and published methods to inform instrument selection and facility-specific qualification.



Put proven SAS performance to work

Bioscience International helps facilities' quality and microbiology leads select the SAS model, sampling head, and media configuration optimal for their specific monitoring and operational requirements. Bioscience also provides ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited airflow calibration to verify sampling flow, with preventative maintenance and technical support throughout the instrument's working life (typically several decades long due to high durability of design), and cost-effective IQ/OQ services.

For facilities replacing existing samplers: qualification, parallel monitoring, and predefined acceptance criteria help maintain monitoring continuity during the changeover. Then-Pfizer senior auditor James Quebbeman describes this approach in Changing Microbiological Air Samplers.17

Click here to compare SAS models by application, or contact Bioscience International for a model recommendation and quote.



References

  1. NASA Kennedy Space Center. . The laboratory's specialized-equipment list includes SAS digital air samplers. ↩
  2. Dunbar B, Nguyen HN, Stahl-Rommel S, et al. . NASA Technical Reports Server, 51st International Conference on Environmental Systems, . ↩
  3. Mazhari F, Regberg AB, Castro CL, LaMontagne MG. Resolution of MALDI-TOF compared to whole genome sequencing for identification of Bacillus species isolated from cleanrooms at NASA Johnson Space Center. Frontiers in Microbiology. ;16:1499516. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1499516. | PubMed Central ↩
  4. Bioscience Staff. . Bioscience World, Winter . Bioscience International account of SAS use in the Florida anthrax investigation and at Bayer. ↩
  5. Nguyen DB, Gupta N, et al. A polymicrobial outbreak of surgical site infections following cardiac surgery at a community hospital in Florida, 2011–2012. American Journal of Infection Control. ;42(4):432-435. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2013.11.021. | PubMed Central ↩
  6. Tanna J, McCann CD, et al. Environmental monitoring of current good manufacturing practices cleanroom facilities for manufacturing of cellular therapy products in an academic hospital setting. Cytotherapy. ;26(11):1421-1428. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcyt.2024.06.008. | PubMed Central ↩
  7. Weissfeld AS, Joseph RA, Le TV, Trevino EA, Schaeffer MF, Vance PH. Optimal Media for Use in Air Sampling To Detect Cultivable Bacteria and Fungi in the Pharmacy. Journal of Clinical Microbiology. ;51(10):3172-3175. DOI: 10.1128/JCM.00944-13. | PubMed Central ↩
  8. Blankenship PE, Metrology Technical Specialist, Monsanto. . Historical customer-authored case study, published in Bioscience World and hosted by Bioscience International; undated. ↩
  9. Driscoll E, Wilkins Z, Cho Y, et al. Culturing air for viable fungi at hospitals within a healthcare system. Open Forum Infectious Diseases. ;13(Suppl 1):ofaf695.1249. Conference abstract P-1054. DOI: 10.1093/ofid/ofaf695.1249. | PubMed Central ↩
  10. Eick KL, Gan M, Thompson S, et al. Hospital Environment-Associated Sources of Mycobacterium abscessus Infection in Transplant Recipients. JAMA Network Open. ;9(6):e2617898. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.17898. | PubMed Central ↩
  11. Masia MD, Dettori M, Deriu GM, et al. Microbial Monitoring as a Tool for Preventing Infectious Risk in the Operating Room: Results of 10 Years of Activity. Atmosphere. ;12(1):19. DOI: 10.3390/atmos12010019. ↩
  12. Montagna MT, Rutigliano S, Trerotoli P, et al. Evaluation of Air Contamination in Orthopaedic Operating Theatres in Hospitals in Southern Italy: The IMPACT Project. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. ;16(19):3581. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16193581. | PubMed Central ↩
  13. Lach V. Performance of the surface air system air samplers. Journal of Hospital Infection. ;6(1):102-107. DOI: 10.1016/S0195-6701(85)80026-8. | PubMed ↩
  14. Yao M, Mainelis G. Use of portable microbial samplers for estimating inhalation exposure to viable biological agents. Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology. ;17:31-38. DOI: 10.1038/sj.jes.7500517. ↩
  15. Asefa DT, Langsrud S, Gjerde RO, et al. . Food Control. ;20(11):997-1001. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodcont.2008.11.011. ↩
  16. Grogan SNCM, Han TT, Mainelis G. Development and initial testing of an active low-power, ferroelectric film-based bioaerosol sampler. Aerosol Science and Technology. ;56(12):1132-1145. DOI: 10.1080/02786826.2022.2128985. | PubMed Central ↩
  17. Quebbeman JF, Senior Auditor, Pfizer, Inc. . Bioscience World, Autumn . Technical guidance hosted by Bioscience International. ↩

For the complete record of SAS air sampler research citations, the SAS scientific literature index catalogs 144 publications on SAS applications and performance.  This makes the SAS air sampler from Bioscience International the most popular air sampler in the world, as determined by real world use in peer-reviewed & similar practitioner industry journals.



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